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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

10 Day You Challenge - Day Five - Six Places

Hi!

Day Five: Six Places
For this one, I decided to pick 3 places I really like, and 3 places I really want to go to.

1. Fore, Co. Westmeath, Ireland

Excuse the quality of the photos, I took them ages ago on my old Samsung phone. I love Fore. It's only about a half an hour away from where I live, but I don't go there nearly often enough. Fore is a tiny village, home to the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey. It's completely open to the public, and you're free to walk among the ruins. It's such a fascinating place with all kinds of legends attached to it, including the 7 Wonders of Fore which you can read more about here.

2. Lough Rynn Castle, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

These were also taken on a phone, sorry again! Before Lough Rynn became the go-to place for fancy weddings, it was the go-to place for a wander on a sunny day for anyone who lived nearby. Most of my summers involved Rynn - we only lived about 7 miles away from it. The big house used to be closed up, but there was a small play area with a coffee shop & gift shop. You can still go and have a walk around the gardens - they always reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, there's even a maze if you're brave enough to enter it! (I am NOT). The boathouse always gave me the creeps, as did the tales of the notorious Lord Leitrim, or William Sydney Clements, who owned the estate. You can read about him this excellent document provided by loughrynn.ie: pdf here.

3. Stratford-upon-Avon, England

I haven't been in years (I think the last time was 6 years ago, eek), but any time we go to Birmingham to visit relations, I look forward to the day we visit Stratford the most. Home to Shakespeare's Birthplace, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and full of red brick buildings, cobbled streets, and little statues - it's an amazing place to go. It feels like another world. The last time I was there, I went off wandering on my own for a few hours and ended up in a tiny little magic shop in an alley. If you ever get the opportunity to visit, definitely do! You can read more about Stratford here.

4. Lyngen Lodge, Norway

I've wanted to see the Northern Lights since I was a child. Lyngen Lodge offer a variety of getaway packages that incorporate watching the Lights - you can do photography courses, dog sledding, skiing - it sounds like a dream holiday and it's number one on my places to go before I die list. It's like 200 quid a night not even including flights, but yeah. You can find out more info here.5. New York City

This has been on my must-visit list ever since the first time I saw Home Alone 2. We are going to go, we keep planning to go, then something else gets in the way and it falls through. I know it's hot and humid & all that but I suspect NYC are a little better prepared in the ways of air con than we seem to be over here. We're currently in the middle of a heatwave (it was the same temperature in Ireland yesterday as it was in parts of Africa) and we are not used to it at all, there's a shortage of paddling pools and ice pops and a lot of very, very red people walking around. If you're planning a trip to New York, or just want to see what else the city has to offer, click here for more info.

6. Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu is a 15th century Inca site in Peru. It looks like it would be an amazing place to visit - I've wanted to go here since I first found out it existed. If you want to find out more about it, visit bhfstudios.com for amazing photographs like the one above and a description of a wonderful trip.

I'm off to bathe in ice cubes and pull all my curtains again. This is NOT good pregnant weather.

I didn't see that! It looks like an amazing place. Apparently you're not even allowed to take a walking stick in case you contribute to the ruins, I'd say places like that will eventually be closed to the public altogether. The hermit's cell is padlocked in Fore, everything else is in pretty good nick (for now anyway) x

I love the buildings in Ireland and England. We don't have anything like it.... lol I had a game on my xbox and in was based in Peru, it was very cool and I always thought it would be a great place to go to

Great choices. I have added Fore to my to-visit list, it's a new one to me. NYC, I adore, I've only been twice but it's my favourite city in the world. There is so much to see and do and such a buzz everywhere. Plus when you get there, it is so familiar from tv and films, you feel like you already know it.

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